Spoiler Guide by Rebecca Stunell

Written by Kieran Prendiville
Directed by Richard Standeven
Produced by Joy Lale
First UK Broadcast: 18 February 1996, BBC1
Viewing Figure: 14.22 million

A young woman books accommodation at Fitzgerald's and informs Assumpta that she's 'here for the priest'.
The priest meanwhile, is indulging in male bonding, or football as it's otherwise known. Gaelic football. It's rough stuff at times and while Peter's enjoying the game, Ambrose is getting tired of Brian's nagging and is all too keen to get onto the pitch if only to show he's better than Peter at this game. While trying to make a save, Peter meets unfortunate injury, courtesy of Ambrose's elbow and retires from the game. Edso Foley, a stranger to Peter, commiserates with him.

Peter takes a couple of painkillers before taking confession. Siobhan enters the confessional to admit that she got appallingly drunk the night before and ended up not sleeping alone... but with a flock of sheep in a field. Peter manages to keep a straight face and offers her an aspirin. She accepts and gives him something for the missions in return... a racing tip.

Peter decides to visit Dr Ryan to get his injury checked out. It's only a bruising, but during the consultation, Michael tells him that Brain Quigley has been dumping 'organic fertiliser' next to a caravan where a baby and her parents are living. The child has a cough and Michael thinks there's a connection. Peter volunteers to go and have a word with Quigley about the matter.

The baby's father is Edso and he, his wife and his daughter live in a caravan next to a field where Liam and Donal are in the process of dumping another load of manure. Edso goes to confront them and Donal takes up the challenge. As Peter tries to restrain them, he is inadvertently pushed into the pile of 'organic fertiliser'. Liam and Donal back off after Peter points out that their actions aren't helping the baby's health. Cleaning himself up, Peter discovers that the reason they are living near Quigley's land is that it came with the contract on a job Edso completed four weeks early. They have nowhere else to go, having sold their home to pay for her father's long term care. The deal with Brian was that they could stay there until the contract was finished and Quigley is now trying to force them off the land. Brian wants to put a site office in the field where he's going to build holiday homes. The fertiliser is for the flower beds.

Ambrose finally gets round to telling Niamh what Brain was nagging him about. He wants Niamh to either marry him or move out of his house.

Peter goes to see Brian and voices his objections about the way he's treating Edso and his family. Despite reasoning and appealing to Brian's softer side, he gets nowhere. He returns home to find the visiting young woman in his kitchen. He left his door unlocked and she has begun to prepare a meal for them. Her name is Jennie and it is clear that they knew each other from Manchester. Given Peter's extreme discomfort about the situation, it is clear that she wasn't someone he expected to see again.

At Fitzgerald's there are three topics of conversation - Peter's visitor, Siobhan's sheepish encounter and the football match. It seems Quigley is so confident about his team's impending victory that he's told them to celebrate all they like before the match. Over dinner with Jennie, tells her that it wasn't his fault he was transferred out of Manchester and away from her. She is still angry that he never said goodbye to her in person, only from the pulpit.

At Fitzgerald's, with torrential rain outside, Assumpta picks up the key to Jennie's room.

Peter answers the door to a half-drenched Assumpta, who has brought the key because she didn't want Jennie to be locked out in the pouring rain. Peter explains that Jennie's parents were good friends from England and Assumpta heads back to the pub. Jennie tells him that she's left home and tries to get Peter to admit that something was going to happen between them. She reaches over and touches Peter's face, at which point Kathleen walks past and sees them.
Jennie doesn't think Peter would make her walk back to Fitzgerald's in the rain, so she goes up to his room and waits. Peter takes her room key and goes down to Fitzgerald's instead. Late at night, Edso starts to shovel manure onto the back of a truck.

Roxy's Cracker won the race, which keeps the regulars distracted while Peter arrives and checks in, in Jennie's place.

Brian wakes up the next morning to find a steaming pile of manure on his doorstep. Peter is told and goes over to try to sort things out. He stands his ground in front of the dumper truck's load of manure and Brian, Liam and Donal realise they can't exactly dump it on a priest. Edso's wife explains that even to rent a house they would need a deposit, which they don't have.

Jennie catches up with Peter in the sacristy and Peter admits that he wanted to put distance between them, which was why he got himself transferred. He's ashamed of his feelings and says he'd have ruined their lives if he'd let it go any further. He is summoned to Father Mac's house and leaves Jennie in the lurch again.

Father Mac tells Peter that he's been informed that there were 'painted women cavorting around the priest's house at midnight'. Peter explains the situation and says he spent the night at Fitzgerald's, something Father Mac isn't impressed with. Peter assumes that Brain Quigley was the informant, but Father Mac denies it and tells Peter that Assumpta's the one who owns the field, not Quigley.

Peter confronts Assumpta, who admits she hired Liam and Donal but she wasn't the one who asked them to dump the stuff next to the caravan. The pub doesn't make a huge amount of money and she's selling the land to keep herself going. Quigley wants the land but not with a caravan on it. She's already told Edso and Frances she'd pay them to move on but they refused - the money she was offering wasn't enough for a deposit.

Siobhan comes into the bar and the conversation turns to Roxy's Cracker and the impending football match. Quigley is confident that his team will win, but Siobhan reckons that the opposing team - who haven't won for 20 years - will be the winners. Peter suggests that Assumpta should put the money she offered on as a bet against BallyK.

Peter goes to see Brian, who tells him to leave the field business alone and offers him a place in the Ballykissangel football team as reserve goalie. Peter accepts. Niamh also says that she thinks she's going to marry Ambrose although she doesn't sound too keen.

He returns home to find Jennie still there. She tells him she realises she's made a mistake and she'll be leaving after the match.

Assumpta and Peter attend the football match and try not to make it too obvious that they're rooting for the away side. BallyK make a good start, but Cilldargan claw their way back and are within three points (a goal) of victory when Ambrose, the goalie, is injured. Peter has neglected to mention to Assumpta that's he's the reserve and she goes slightly mad when he tells her. She suggests he should throw the game, but his morals win out. Peter saves the first goal, which is disallowed by the referee, then he just misses saving Edso's spot kick. Cilldargan have won and Assumpta had odds of 30-1 on the win. A post-match discussion in the pub reveals that Edso, playing for Cilldargan had previously played senior football in Kerry.

Peter goes to say goodbye to Jennie at the bus stop. His tone is slightly apologetic but she tells him 'there'll be a next time'.

Typical quotes

Memorable lines

Missing Scenes
Peter meeting Teresa before he goes into the doctor's surgery. A line following on from that meeting explaining to Dr Ryan why he's there.

Credits cock-ups
A large section of the cast credits are included twice.

Trivia
If the football practice scenes look painful for Peter, that's probably because they were. The director told the extras not to worry about hurting Stephen, just to make it look realistic. By the end of the shoot, he was covered in bruises.

In the Ballykissangel Behind the Scenes book, Jennie's described as being a single mother.

Continuity
The betting shop which Timmy-Joe refers to is the one in Cilldargan, which presumably is the one Assumpta placed the bet in. One wonders if the odds might have been higher in Ballykissangel's own betting shop, B. Gildea, across the bridge from Hendley's.
Speaking of Hendley's, Kathleen is walking a dog when she sees Peter and Jennie. Whose dog was it??? There's never been another sighting of Kathleen's dog!

Critical Review
In just the second episode, we realise that there are reasons for Peter being here. Jennie's arrival provides a bit of background information about Peter and his previous parish, along with the fact that he is obviously uncomfortable with his feelings for women.
The 'organic fertiliser' dispute takes up much of the episode, bringing more conflict with Brian and Assumpta. However, it is the first time we see Peter and Assumpta come together to solve someone else's problem. This episode is where Siobhan shows her skills on the betting circuit, which would be put to good use again in future episodes.
It does seem, however, that there were one too many storylines going on in this episode. The plot between Ambrose and Niamh, which provided an intense scene at the beginning, is lost in the middle of the episode. And one little point for the costume department, ditch Assumpta's beret!
7/10